I think the muppet was an attempt to show that JJ Abrams & company recognize some of the pitfalls that befell the PT and they're far more interested in capturing the essence of the OT with a more old school approach.  It reminds me of something that was said on Agents of SHIELD:  people often misconstrue the words new and improved.  Just because something is new doesn't make it better.

I haven't even un-boxed mine yet.  I'm in the midst of a massive loose Star Wars figure organization project, and that's been getting the majority of my attention for the past few weeks.

The new trailer has gotten me that much more interested in checking out this movie.  I have zero knowledge of the comic going into this, but the film definitely looks worth checking out.  I'm guessing that the shadowy figure was Ronan the Accuser.  No sign of Thanos, though.  Hmmmm.

LOL!  It's almost three years since A Dance with Dragons was released.  Before that, it had been six years since A Feast for Crows was published.  And there was a five year gap between AFFC and the third book in the series, A Storm of Swords.

I think we may still be waiting a little while for The Winds of Winter.  Although I do get the sense that the HBO series may have lit a fire under George R.R. Martin's ass.  I do get the sense that TWoW is going to be released before the HBO series catches up with the books.  But I'm not as optimistic about that happening with A Dream of Spring.

The new costume actually makes me think of Batman circa Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.  As for the Batmobile?  I had actually grown pretty fond of the Tumbler from the Nolan/Bale trilogy.  But a new car is fine.

Pretty good resolution to the whole Garrett / Deathlok storyline.  Paxton was great in the role, both as the seasoned agent as well as that of the turncoat.  And when he took the drug?  He played the crazed angle well, too.

There was definitely something about Coulson when he was with Fury that was great.  It seemed to bring him back to that vibe he had in the MCU movies prior to the launch of the series.  And when he had the Destroyer gun?  That was just awesome!

There are definitely some significant hanging storylines.  The gravitonium, Ian Quinn and Rena are all still at large.  Ward's captivity is probably going to be an ongoing storyline as SHIELD interrogates him about Garrett and Hydra.  Skye's story is clearly something they want to explore.  And it seems as though May is going to need to continue to keep tabs on Coulson.  Oh, and all the while they need to focus on rebuilding SHIELD.

There are definitely some interesting places for the series to go.  And with Hydra set to be a factor in the upcoming Avengers - Age of Ultron?  I think that we're very likely to see another tie-in between Agents of SHIELD and that movie.

It was great to finally see Braavos.  And the scene at the Iron Bank was fantastic for expanding on both Davos and Stannis.  Davos may have been a smuggler, but he's now representing himself well as the Hand of the King to a bank that's essentially the Goldman Sachs of it's time.  And he convinced them to bankroll Stannis.  It was cool to see Saladhor Saan again, too.  But I suspected that he would make his way back into the mix at some point.

The Meereen scenes are making more and more sense.  When I read the books I had a far more difficult time getting into the intrigue in Meereen, but the show is handling it pretty well.  Clearly, the dragons seem to be beyond Dany's control.  And that's almost certainly going to come into play later on.  As for Hizdhar Zo Loraq?  I think that scene played out well, but it seems as though he's trying to play on Dany's emotions and sense of justice.

The small council meeting was great.  The Red Viper's disdain for formality and kissing Tywin Lannister's ass was readily apparent.  And contrasting that against Mace Tyrell basically being Tywin's lapdog was pretty funny.  But I think the more important scene was clearly Jaime meeting with Tywin to bargain for Tyrion's life.  Jaime's path of redemption has been a great storyline.  And his loyalty to Tyrion is one of the only true and honest relationships in the entire series.  His willingness to leave the Kings Guard and agree to Tywin's demands in order to save Tyrion was a fantastic moment.

And then there was Shae.  The trial was absolutely a farce.  Especially Meryn Trant and Pycelle's testimony.  But Tyrion seemed prepared to go along with Jaime's plan until Shae took the stand.  And I could not blame him for letting loose on the sham that it was, and Cersei's clear attempts to draw him out with Shae.

Next week is going to be great!